D&D: ‘Vecna – Nest of the Eldritch Eye’ is a One-Shot Prelude To ‘Eve of Ruin’
Coming in April, Vecna: Nest of the Eldritch Eye is a one-shot prelude to the major upheaval that will be Vecna: Eve of Ruin. And it’s pre-order only.
WotC is once again experimenting with pre-order benefits. We’ve seen the different Monstrous Compendiums previously, but if you pre-order the big spring adventure, Vecna: Eve of Ruin on D&D Beyond or in the digital/physical bundle from WotC, you’ll also get a one-shot prelude adventure. Titled Vecna: Nest of the Eldritch Eye, this will be a 3rd level adventure that sets the stage for the main event a few months later.
Now it’s interesting that that’s how this plays out, because Vecna: Eve of Ruin comes out May 21st. Nest of the Eldritch Eye comes out on April 16th. That leaves you exactly five weeks to get from level 4 all the way to level 10 to be ready for Vecna: Eve of Ruin. Which, you know, is doable, but also that’s gaining a level a week. Assuming you play weekly!
Vecna: Nest of the Eldritch Eye
At any rate, WotC put out a video preview of the new adventure, and here’s what we know so far:
This adventure sets up the Cult of Vecna. These are the main antagonists for the early chapters of Eve of Ruin as the players discover that Vecna is trying to remake the multiverse in his image. Nest of the Eldritch Eye sends characters to the titular nest. A secret location in the catacombs beneath the city of Neverwinter.
The players are hired by Lord Neverember to try and investigate what’s happened to the last party, who turned up dead, leaving behind a corpse with a single desiccated eyeball. Which, that is as ominous a sign as it gets.
Things escalate from there as you take on the cultists. All in all, it sounds like a fun way to start introducing the idea of Vecna. But ultimately there’s tons of ways to do that. If you want to ramp up to level 10, there’s nothing stopping you from putting some Vecna cultists in whatever you’re doing right now. But a part of the temptation of Nest of the Eldritch Eye is that it’s a temporary exclusive. Never to return if you don’t pre-order.
But it’s not so important that you’re somehow lessening your enjoyment if you don’t actually pick it up. Again, WotC is experimenting with pre-orders, and this feels like a new approach. I don’t know how well it will ultimately work for ’em, but as they move more towards digital exclusives, pre-order bonuses feel like something you do as part of it. And they can’t just drop exclusive item skins, since, you know, you can make an item skin yourself just with the power of your imagination.
Yeah of course you have a longsword that looks like the energy sword from Halo. If you dream it you can do it. Done. Boom. But a little one-shot feels like a step in a potentially good direction.
Look for Nest of the Eldritch Eye April 16th on D&D Beyond!
